I was born and raised a vegetarian.

When I became older, I had the same mentality about meat as I did with drugs. I figured, I went this long without, why start now? That’s right, in all of my 30 years I have never eaten meat.

I wish I could tell you that it came from an emotional place of wanting to be a better person but the truth is, I wasn’t inspired by Bambi, health concerns, or greenhouse gases to eat a vegetarian diet. I just didn’t know any other way to eat or live.

However, it wasn’t until I started working at a vegan restaurant that I became vegan myself. I felt like a hypocrite working for a vegan restaurant while I continued to indulge in eggs, butter, and, my all time favorite, cheese. I made the decision and that was that.

Apart from having physical cravings for cheese and missing the convenience of dairy, my transition was fairly easy. I remember being skeptical that cutting out dairy would make any difference in my day to day life. I was very wrong.

The first two weeks of cutting out dairy I went through physical, emotional, and mental transformations that I was surprised and delighted to be having. I felt lighter, I had more energy than I ever had, my skin was glowing, my pants fit better, I slept more soundly, my eyes become brighter, and I literally had moments of pure clarity. I know this sounds dramatic, believe me, I wouldn’t have believed it had I had not experienced it first hand.

While all of these amazing things were happening I was kicking myself for not doing this sooner; while at the same time nervous that I had opened Pandora’s box.

I started reading books, reading blogs, and subscribing to all things vegan. At first, I was driven by my responsibility for learning everything vegan that I possibly could for the sake of my job.

The more I was learning about the impacts that the meat and dairy industry have on our health, the environment and animal suffering, the more I realized that being vegan was something that I needed to do for me.

Although, I wished I had done it sooner, I had never felt better about being vegan. I have been vegan for two years now. I could not be the person who I am today If it wasn’t for my ah-ha moment, and that ah-ha moment had to come from me and no one else.

Eat well, live well.